Montreal housing sales hit eight-year low

December 19, 2022



November 2022 housing sales in Montreal fell to their lowest level in eight years with a 38 per cent plunge from 2021, according to the Quebec Professional Association of Real Estate Brokers.
Sales in the month reached 2,718 transactions—the lowest for a November since at least 2000 when the provincial data base was created, and the lowest for any month since 2014.
The association says a series of mortgage rate hikes drove buyers out of the market. Montreal area condo sales were down 41 per cent and single-family home sales were down 30 per cent from the same period in 2021.
Prices were stable in the month with condo prices unchanged from October 2022 and single-family home prices up slightly, while compared with 2021, prices were down 2 per cent for condos and 1 per cent for single-family homes.
The median price for a condo was $380,000 and $520,000 for a single-family home.
Compared to November 2021, active listings were up 58 per cent, at 16,397, and new listings were down 3 per cent.
A seventh increase in the Bank of Canada overnight rate, a half-a-percentage point hike on December 7, raised the current prime rate from 5.95 per cent to 6.45 per cent at most of Canada’s big banks.